Does anyone use Carradice saddlebags

[nun]

New to bikepacking.net, but a long time contributor to bikeforums.net/touring. I've been interested to see bikepacking develop as I've been evolving my  touring setup for a few years to use a Carradice saddlebag, handlebar bag and ultralight equipment with a general goal of getting my gear and bags under 20lbs while keeping as much of my comfort as possible.




I the stuff made by Epic and Carousel and have considered trying some of the bags out, but I was wondering if anyone uses more traditional bags like ortlieb handlebar bags and Carradice saddlebags while bikepacking.

[drwelby]

I've toured on a cross bike with a Camper Longflap on the back, and it works fine as long as you don't have to slide your butt back.

I've also used one of these for some semi-supported road touring:

http://www.carradice.co.uk/products/type/sqrtrax

and it's narrow enough to probably work well off-road, though I haven't tried it on anything technical. It would make an interesting option for someone wanting an Epic-style seatbag who didn't mind the hardware. They used to sell a strap kit that would convert it to a backpack, which is an interesting concept.

[bmike-vt]

I've used the Barley and Super C, and the SQR Tour.
Mainly for brevet duties and commuting / town / long day rides.

I've moved to Epic bags, and am pretty happy.
Am in the process of mocking up a flap loading rear bag that will use the modern materials (and be a bit smaller than a barley) for brevets. For me, the leather buckles on the traditional Caradice gear got old - especially in the cold and wet. I do miss the convenience of the flap though...

[DoctorRad]

What model is that in your photo nun? That's freakin' HUGE...!

[rperks]

I have been using the Nelson Longflap for all sorts of things for a couple of years now.  It has been a love hate relationship.

I love having: over 1000 Cu In of space behind my saddle, flexibilty of the long flap top, not needing a traditional rack to carry or support it, the abilty to strap stuff to the outside of the bag.

I hate (or at least dislike): the weak connection of the bagman support, mine wiggles loose no matter what. It is not made to take the abuse of singletrack or dirt roads.  Getting behind the saddle, although I seldom if ever need to do this.  The thin and fiddly leather straps.  finally. How floppy the bag is when empty without the bagman inside it.
 
I have been working on some ideas to replace the bagman without resorting to a traditional rack, this will likely be my solution.  Also, I have been sketching ideas that merge the volume and style of the Nelson with the attachments of the seat bags more commonly seen here, but to get the volume up to 1000 Cu In the bag gets really long and this may not be the direction I go.

[DoctorRad]

I hate (or at least dislike): the weak connection of the bagman support, mine wiggles loose no matter what. It is not made to take the abuse of singletrack or dirt roads.  Getting behind the saddle, although I seldom if ever need to do this.  The thin and fiddly leather straps.  finally. How floppy the bag is when empty without the bagman inside it.

I think something similar to pro_out's approach may be worth looking at:

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,605.msg14306.html#msg14306

1000 cu inches is ~16 litres, which is about medium dry bag sized. A dry bag is obviously not as convenient as a top-opening saddlebag, so maybe a similar rack could be fashioned which would support a traditional saddlebag.

Or perhaps what is needed is a saddlebag variation which goes back rather than sideways - to allow sliding back off the saddle - which is getting into the realms of lightweight rack-top bags. Perhaps an ultralight backpack design could be adapted. I noticed recently that Jandd will sell you both parts of a KilckFix system:

http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FKLICKFIX

This may help in designing or adapting something suitable.

Dr. Matt...

[nun]

Interesting replies

My saddlebag is a Nelson Longflap. It's great for touring, but as it sticks out sideways it's not the best for off road. The buckles can be an issue, but if that's the case you could use the Camper C which has modern nylon closures. Also the cotton material is heavy. I'd love to see a lightweight version that uses modern materials with the design features of
the traditional saddlebag.

The Bagman is almost perfect, I just wish that they hadn't relied on a couple of set screws to hold it together. I would have threaded the ends of the rods that go into the mounting block, made the holes in the block thru-holes and held everything together with a washer and lock nut on the end of the threaded rods. Some versions of the Bagman seem to have issues coming loose so to avoid this I put locktite in the rod holes and on the set screws and it's been very solid.